October 21, 2016

Budget 2017: Better end-financing scheme for PR1MA house buyers

The 2017 Budget today introduced a new end-financing scheme for the 1Malaysia People’s Housing programme which provides for easier and more accessible financing for buyers.

Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak said through the scheme, financingwill be easier and more accessible to buyers with a total loan of 90 to 100 per cent while loan rejection rate will be reduced drastically.

“For instance, an applicant with a monthly income of RM3,000 will only be eligible for a loan of more than RM187,000. Through this special financing scheme, the applicant can get a loan of more than RM295,000,” he said when tabling the 2017 Budget at Dewan Rakyat, here today.

Najib who is also the Finance Minister said the application process for this scheme would be implemented from January 1, 2017.

The scheme is a collaboration between the government, Bank Negara Malaysia, Employees Provident Fund (EPF) and four local banks, namely Maybank, CIMB, RHB and AMBANK.

In addition, Najib also announced that stamp duty exemption would be increased to 100 per cent on instruments of transfer and housing loan instruments, to help reduce the cost of first-home ownership, compared to 50 per cent at present.

However, he said, this exemption is limited to houses with the value of up to RM300,000 for first home ownership only, between January 1, 2017 and December 31, 2018.

He said PR1MA has been well-received with more than 12,000 units worth RM3.3 billion booked while 85,000 units are at various stages of approval.